Missing Man Facing Rape Charge

Husband Bought Handgun Before Disappearance

June 12, 1991|By LUCINDA COUTO Staff Writer

JAMES CITY (COUNTY) — A man who was reported missing along with his estranged wife this week was charged with raping the woman in April and purchased a handgun last week, according to a police affidavit for a search warrant for his home.

The affidavit says the man and woman, who were last seen Sunday, were having ``serious marital problems,'' and that he choked her while forcing her to have sexual intercourse with him on April 19. At the time, the affidavit says, the two had been separated for two weeks; Virginia's marital rape law requires that a couple be separated and living apart.

FOR THE RECORD - Published correction ran Thursday, June 13, 1991. An article in Wednesday's Local section incorrectly stated that a man missing since Sunday had purchased a handgun on June 3. The man attempted to buy the gun but was turned down, according to the owner of the gun shop. The story also incorrectly stated that the man was last seen at his parent's home Sunday. He was last seen at his own home. The same article also incorrectly stated that the man faces a marital rape charge in General District Court. The charge is slated to be heard in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.Published correction ran Friday, June 14, 1991. An article in Wednesday's local section incorrectly stated that a man missing from James City County with his estranged wife purchased a handgun at G and L Arms on Mooretown Road. George Christy, the owner of the store, said he refused to sell the man a gun.

Police are searching for the couple, whose names are being withheld because of the nature of the alleged April offense. County police department Capt. Ken Middlebrook said they disappeared under ``unusual circumstances'' on Sunday, but declined to comment Tuesday on whether police suspect foul play.

He did say that a search of the man's home Tuesday, and a search of the woman's residence with the consent of the owner, provided no clues as to where the couple might be.

According to the search warrant affidavit, which persuaded a magistrate to allow police to search the man's residence, the alleged marital rape in April was not the only evidence of conflict between the man and woman since their separation.

The affidavit says that in May - while awaiting a June 25 preliminary hearing in General District Court on the marital rape charge - the man tried to abduct the woman in the parking lot of the James York Plaza shopping center in York County.

Middlebrook said Tuesday that police from York and James City counties arrived in the parking lot but when the woman said she did not want to press charges, did not arrest the man. He said the two left in separate vehicles.

On June 3 - six days before the man was last seen - the search warrant affidavit says he purchased a 9mm handgun from G&L Arms on Mooretown Road in James City County.

The affidavit says the woman was last seen by a relative at about 2 p.m. Sunday at a church, where the woman, the man and friends and relatives attended the baptism of the couple's 3-year-old son.

The last known sighting of the man was at his parents' home near Williamsburg at about 4 p.m. Sunday, during a party, Middlebrook said.

He said the couple's son and the woman's car were left there Sunday, and the woman's purse and keys were in the car.

Middlebrook said the couple has been married four years. He said the woman's relatives told police that she would not have left without telling them, and would not have left her child with her in-laws without notice.

Additionally, he said, it is out of character for the woman to fail to show up for work without notifying her employer. The man also did not show up for work, Middlebrook said.

Police are looking for the man's tan 1990 GMC pickup truck with the license QYE-565.

The woman is white, 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighs 105 pounds and has a distinctive mark the size of a golf ball on her right shoulder. The man is black with medium- to dark-complexioned skin, is 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighs 180 pounds. He has a red heart tattoo on the inside of one arm and may be wearing two earrings in his left ear, police say.

Anyone with information about the couple may call James City Police at 253-2300.